Investigating the evolving knowledge structures in new technology development

J. A. Gopsill, P. Shakespeare, C. M. Snider, L. Newnes, B. J. Hicks

Research output: Chapter or section in a book/report/conference proceedingChapter in a published conference proceeding

2 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

The development of new technology has been identified as one of the key enablers to support business and economic growth in developed countries. For example, the United Kingdom (UK) has invested £968 Million into the creation of Catapult centres to provide ‘pull through’ of low Technology Readiness Level (TRL) research and science. While these Catapults have been instrumental in developing new technologies, the uptake of new technology within industry remains a considerable challenge. One of the reasons for this is that of skills and competencies, and in particular, defining the new skills and competencies necessary to effectively apply and operate the new technology within the context of the business. Addressing this issue is non-trivial because the skills and competencies cannot be defined a priori and will evolve with the maturity of the technology. Therefore, there is a need to create methods that enable the elicitation and definition of skills and competencies that co-evolve with new technology development, and what are referred to herein as knowledge structures. To meet this challenge, this paper reports the results from a dynamic co-word network analysis of the technical documentation from New Technology Development (NTD) programmes at the National Composites Centre (NCC). Through this analysis, emerging knowledge structures can be identified and monitored, and be used to inform industry on the skills & competencies required for a technology.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProduct Lifecycle Management to Support Industry 4.0 - 15th IFIP WG 5.1 International Conference, PLM 2018, Proceedings
EditorsJosé Ríos, Frédéric Noël, Paolo Chiabert, Abdelaziz Bouras
Place of PublicationNew York, U. S. A.
PublisherSpringer New York
Pages523-533
Number of pages11
ISBN (Print)9783030016135
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2018
Event15th IFIP WG 5.1 International Conference on Product Lifecycle Management, PLM 2018 - Turin, Italy
Duration: 2 Jul 20184 Jul 2018

Publication series

NameIFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology
Volume540

Conference

Conference15th IFIP WG 5.1 International Conference on Product Lifecycle Management, PLM 2018
Country/TerritoryItaly
CityTurin
Period2/07/184/07/18

Funding

Acknowledgements. The work reported in this paper has been funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). Grant references EP/K014196/2, EP/R513556/1 & EP/R013179/1.

Keywords

  • Co-word analysis
  • Competency mapping
  • Dynamic network analysis
  • Graph theory
  • Knowledge management
  • Knowledge structures

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Information Systems
  • Computer Networks and Communications
  • Information Systems and Management

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Investigating the evolving knowledge structures in new technology development'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this